


Craptastic Beasts

by kattahj



Category: Class (TV 2016)
Genre: Aliens, Dating, F/M, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-11
Updated: 2018-12-11
Packaged: 2019-09-16 13:12:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16954698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kattahj/pseuds/kattahj
Summary: As a student at Coal Hill, there's a lot you've got to deal with. Studying for exams, killing aliens, going on dates, dealing with trauma... sometimes all of it on the same day.





	Craptastic Beasts

**Author's Note:**

  * For [trololonasty](https://archiveofourown.org/users/trololonasty/gifts).



> Thanks to my secret betas for all their help, including the title! Any remaining flaws are my own.

"Which quantity is not necessarily the same for satellites that are in geostationary orbits around the Earth?” April read out loud from the laptop she balanced on her knees. “A) angular velocity, B) centripetal acceleration, C) kinetic energy, or D) orbital period?”

She looked up at Ram. The two of them were sitting on the stairs to the school attic, trying to get some homework done before their next class.

Ram stared thoughtfully into the corridor, biting his thumbnail.

“Ram?” April said when she got no reply. “Ram, are you even listening to me?”

He snapped out of whatever had occupied his attention, and gave a quick shake of his head, as if to ward off a persistent fly. “Oh, what’s even the point? When am I ever going to use this?”

“Considering our lives, some day we might have to deal with satellites in geostationary orbits around Earth.”

“Or the nasty bitey aliens invading from them, more likely.”

“Well, yes, that too,” April admitted. “But meanwhile, you really need to hand in some homework assignments if you’re going to pass Physics.”

“And get my A Levels, and a boring job that’ll last me until I get my throat ripped out by an alien. Hey, is your mum going to be home tonight?”

She raised her eyebrows. “Yes. Why?”

“I just thought you and I could...” His fingertips caressed the skin along the edge of her collar, sending tingles down her spine. “But I guess not.”

“We could go to your place.”

He grimaced. “My parents will definitely be home. Well, Dad at least; Mum’s got a big project at work. I don’t think we’re ready for the girlfriend conversation with my dad.”

_Girlfriend_ , she noted, smiling a little. “Well, you handled it like a trooper when you talked to my mum,” she said with gleeful innocence, which he rewarded with a comic shudder.

“God, don’t remind me.”

“We could always go on an actual date.”

“What, like a date date?”

“Sure. If you’re going to call me your girlfriend, it seems like it’s time.”

He opened his mouth, but had no time to respond before something small but heavy slammed into his chest and stuck to it, claws and teeth sinking into his flesh.

Ram screamed.

April screamed.

The burning scimitars appeared in her hands, and she prepared to attack, but Ram was on top of the creature now, slamming it into the banister until the grip loosened, and then grabbing his backpack to get a few more whacks in.

It was over in seconds. The two of them stood staring at the bundle of short, bristly fur. It wasn’t unlike a large rat, if you allowed for the eight legs with inch-long claws, and the two rows of razor-sharp teeth in its open mouth.

“That,” Ram panted, hand pressed against his bleeding throat, “is the ugliest vermin I’ve ever seen in my life.”

April prodded it with her toe. It was quite dead. “Do you think there are more?”

Their eyes drifted upstairs. There were no more creatures in sight but they could hear, above the din of regular corridor activity, the faint chittering of some kind of animal.

“Oh, you just had to ask,” Ram said, standing up.

There was a fire extinguisher on the wall. Ram yanked it loose and proceeded up the stairs, and April followed right behind, scimitars back out.

There were no students in the attic, not even the ones lighting up weed. Just a lot of old school equipment throwing long shadows in the meagre light from the few functional fluorescent lamps.

“There’s a slide projector on this shelf,” Ram said. “Who uses a slide projector?”

“Probably the same person using these giant maps,” April said. “Google Earth, anyone?”

There was a low scraping sound of something scuttling against the floor, and then stillness, as if whatever had made the noise was crouched and ready to attack. April swirled around and struck the alien mid-lunge, slicing it in two singed halves which promptly exploded.

When the next creature appeared from a dark corner of the room, Ram was the one to get it with the fire extinguisher. Killing it took only a couple of blows but left a furry mess.

And then they found the nest behind the TV trolley.

April turned to face Ram, deadly calm. “I think I'd better take this. Step back.”

The aliens were jumping at her, teeth bared, before she had finished speaking, and she swung her blades.

Even with multiple attacks at once, it didn't take her long to dispose of them all, and she was left standing, sweaty, heart racing, and a little sick to her stomach, with the stench of burning flesh in her nose.

She tried to push the guilt away. When you got right down to it, those aliens had been aggressive and quite dangerous for their size. It wasn't that different from putting out mouse traps – and mice wouldn't even try to rip your throat out.

If only killing them hadn't felt so _good_.

Desperate for some form of normalcy, she turned to Ram, who still held onto the fire extinguisher, which was now dripping with blood.

“We could go and see a film?” she suggested.

He nodded, wide eyes focused on the smoldering ruins of the nest. “Yeah. Let's.”

 

* * *

 

With the kind of life they were leading, fantasy films didn't have the same kind of thrill anymore, but it was still fun to watch witches and wizards on screen, trying to protect their secrets from the people around them. CGI aside, it was kind of relatable, and anyway, April got the same warm, fuzzy feeling as when she was little and first diving into the world of Harry Potter.

Only this time, Ram was sitting beside her in the back of the cinema, the two of them in the aptly named loveseat, hands and arms and eventually lips touching as the film progressed. That held a thrill of its own.

But then one of the characters disintegrated on screen, and sitting this close, she could feel Ram tense up, hear the way his breathing changed.

“Ram,” she said, taking his hand.

He didn’t respond. His foot bounced against the floor.

“Ram.”

Without a word, he got up and walked past her, past everyone in the row and out the door.

After an initial bewildered beat, she followed, apologising to the cinema goers who had just started to sit down again. “Sorry. I’m just... sorry. Sorry.”

It didn’t take her long to find Ram. He was standing in the lobby, head against the wall, next to an oversized cardboard troll.

“Are you okay?” April asked, taking up position on his other side.

He drew a shaky breath and rubbed his eyes. “It’s just a _stupid_ film. I can fight aliens, why can’t I…? But maybe that’s it. At least I can fight them. _Have_ to fight them, no matter how scared I am, or people die. There’s not a damned thing I can do in there except leave.”

“Seems very sensible to leave, then.”

“Sorry I ruined the film for you.”

“I didn’t come to see the film. I came to be with you.”

“Yeah, but if I wasn’t so messed up, you could do both.”

She leaned in and kissed his cheek, right by the ear. “And if my heart wasn’t split in two, I wouldn’t get the urge to kill things, and if aliens weren’t constantly invading we could get our A Levels in peace. It is what it is.”

“It’s sucky, is what it is.”

“Not all of it,” she said and snaked an arm around his waist.

He kissed her softly in reply. Caressing his face, she could feel the slight stickiness of sweat mixed with tears, but his breathing was back to normal.

“How do you think it will end?” he asked.

“The film? Or the alien stuff?”

“The film. I don’t even want to think about the rest.”

“I think they will all go to Disneyland and have popcorn and balloons.”

“Was there a Disneyland in the 20s?” he asked, laughing.

She laughed too. “How should I know?”

“There can’t have been. He hadn’t even made _Snow White_ yet.”

“Well, wherever you went in the 20s, then.”

“Coney Island?” he suggested. “Yeah, Coney Island may have existed in the 20s.”

“Coney Island, and balloons, and popcorn.” The mention of popcorn made her stomach growl. “God, I’m hungry. Are you hungry?”

“Yes,” he said, moving in closer. His eyes were fixed on hers, and what she saw in them told her that the crisis was over for now.

“Food,” she said sternly.

“Food,” he agreed. “First.”

And when you got right down to it, she thought as they headed out into the street, arms wrapped around each other, for some food and whatever would come second, who cared about the end of a film? For once in her life, she could choose to make her own happy ending.


End file.
